Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-11-14
ABOUT MESMERISM.
THE CAPITAL EXCITED CONCERNING
SUBJECTS. AND "SENSITWES."

THE CAPITAL EXCITED CONCERNING
SUBJECTS. AND "SENSITWES."
A Correspondents Accidental Discovery.
Animal Magnetism as an Amusement.
Experiments with Glass in Hypnot-
ism-An Operators" Conclusions.
This letter will be in the nature of a confess
sion Last spring, discovering by accident
that l could mesmerize, took up mesmerism
as a diversion for the amusement of myself
and friends. l had long believed in it
entirely, and carefully watched its pro-
cesses, but wished to study its philosophy
and find out if l could, the cause and the
limits of its mysterious phenomena
first found that l could, by placing my
hand on the forehead of young acquaint-
ance and accompanying the sight pressure
with an imperative command, close his eyes
and keep them firmly closed against all eff
forts of his will. could compel him to dance
or keep him from moving from his tracks;
could prevent his rising from his chair; pre-
vent his striking his hands together, and, at
last, could prevent him from speaking. In
fact | absolutely controlled his voluntary
muscles in every respect, and could compel
him to do anything that he was physically
capable of doing
Extending the experiments, I obtained the
same control over others, both men and
women, till l had quite class of sensitives
SO responsive that | could control them with
ease. Up to this time they were all perfectly
conscious and without any Authorizations;
they knew who they We're, where they were
and what they were doing, and they laughed
as heartily at the absurd results obtained as
any spectator. Up to this time too, had
no means of ascertaining whether the APP
parent results were genuine | might be the
dune of cunning people who were consni,.iner
to fool me. for in these early STAGES there
seems to be no way of scientifically prov
ing it.
II was some time before was able m c,rrv
the exnerimapts further and oct co,trnl of
| the consciousness and senses of nv class At
last success came Imade them see and hear
musouitoes and fiobt tho tormantorS with
great energy At tbis noint tbav bacap,a
| dazed and it was easv To command tbai,.
senses in other resnacts At a SUGGESTION
| thew heard music the noises of n riot q ,bnn-
der storm the roaring of rops . s,,saoh b,,
| lnCprSOll nal lKre To
| wildly anvtb;ng ~ which 7 d;racto1 tha;r
attention Tn This world of baIIpc;no+;e,,
thew lost copsc;opsn,ss- r.thg- tho,,
| abandoned their rasI ax;stancs and ass,,r,e.l
ON .hno,.mol axista,ca oS c,, L. =,
\ dream
VARIOUS EXPERIMENTS
| Jan NOT vat cartai, ,,ha,,,a,. ,h;. s+,o,,.,
condition ;e ;,,,>,s,1 -, 81, ~ IN o
ybe,ber n 10 s.,lf ;u,,,,so5 s,,t;a.t al ,,,a
result of expectation ON tbair nart Iar,, in
| cIiped IN habeve the latter tbao,.v il t,.,o
| ha,arso ,,bsn T d;rao, ,ba;,. ,,.,,,,;o,, y
| horse f,,. ins+orca a.cb o,,,,,e.,., 1iFa.,x,t
so,t If :, borSe .,,d hi, beaI l. j., He n
, ,,act;ons
Rv. fay additional ,,assos T nor, ;,5,,,o .
cataIantic stat, in which th, ra,,s;+i,,e ~,
comes narfa,tIv r;erid and con ha loia o,,+ he-
twae, tvvo cbeirs sis bsad on ono a,,d hi,
heels on apotbar Et-a a loo Thoy co, oIso
Ia aas;lv pada ipsans;bla 70 ,,oin CO +ha+
ni,s are stuct tbrou,,b tbair bod -
drawn and painful but harmless acids mt in
the eve without extorting a SIGN of feeIine,
| In this way. and others even more coucIn.
sive. have demonstrated the GOOD faith of
| NV Gloss
| I have rivan savaraI raca,tiorS for +t,o. ~,
| tartainneIt of INV f,.;a,do ord ,.t,o,,1 -,
some result for the banaf;t of tboca in o,har
cities who choose To try similar axr.srip,sntc
The available class now consists of eight
four gentlemen and four ladies, from II to Il
years of age. Two of these Doth ladies' ]
have never been able to take into the region
| of Authorizations. can control them physi
cally, can prevent their unclasping theil
hands, or laying down fan, or rising from
| their chairs, or pronOuncing their owl
names; but here my influence stops. l can
not make them think that the room is hot OIL
cold, or that mosquitoes are prevalent, OF
disturb the testimony of their senses in any
way.
The other six are lost to the realities of lifl
the instant touch them One of them cal
put into a sound sleep in second, and b
will sleep until awaken him.
1t should be stated here that these sensitive
are above the average of intelligence an,
mental activit.. Three of them are clerks il
the departments, one, who took the valedic
tory in college, being an artist in the Smith
sonian. Two are in business for themselves
, one of them, a shrewd sagacious and leve
headed man as one would meet anywhere
with sharp commercial turn of mind Thi
man differs from the others in being keenl,
; ncreduious- skepticai OF his hallucinaticE:
when they seem unreasonable
SOME CONCLUSIONS.
know of no other thing in which there
so much entertainment as mesmerism. Fo
, | the benefit of those who desire IN exnerirnap
| armand cartain conclusions fro,, nv, ,,,,-
, | experiments here.
i About one person in ten can be me.
inei iaou-